Resistors having PTC behavior have long been prior art and are described, for example, in DE 2 948 350 C2 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,889 A. In commercially obtainable designs, such resistors preferably contain resistance bodies composed of a semicrystalline polymer which is filled with soot and which has PTC behavior. Below a material-specific critical temperature, said polymer is in a low-resistance state. Above the critical temperature, the polymer goes over to a high-resistance state. On exceeding the critical temperature, the resistivity of the PTC resistor increases abruptly by many orders of magnitude and an undesirable short-circuit current is therefore effectively limited. PTC resistors can therefore be used as overload protection in circuits. In an electrical circuit designed for high operating currents and high operating voltages, considerable energy, which results in a destruction of the PTC resistor, can be converted during the transition from the low-resistance to the high-resistance state in the PTC resistor. In order to minimize the energy converted, it is therefore of decisive importance for the use of a PTC resistor as current-limiting element in an electrical circuit designed for high operating currents and high operating voltages that the PTC resistor reaches its high-resistance state during overload in the shortest time.